Moments and Memories
by Jade Nox
Summary: Barbara Anne Young gets a blast from her past when she runs into Daryl Dixon, an old flame, will romance be rekindled or will this new world ravage her and the people she's trying to protect? M for strong language and possible sex scenes later on in the story.
1. Befor the Shit Hit the Fan

**Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead or it's character, they belong to Robert Kirkman. I only Barbara and her group.**

I'd love some feed back and I hope you all enjoy the story.

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_I've been sitting here staring at this book for what seems like hours, maybe it's actually been hours. I don't know exactly what to say, mostly 'cause I aint ever used a journal for what it was suppose to be used for. Well at least what most people use it for. See I useta be a writer, you know published books and everything so instead of putting my personal thoughts into the numerous journals I bought, I always used it to write down my ideas for the stories that I was currently workin' on for my editor or random things that appealed or inspired me. But now with the world goin' to complete shit, I guess I should at least be doin' this right…just in case I die or something. God I hope I don't you know, get eatin'. Kinda hopin' that it's just the dyin from something like hunger or old age…hopefully old age and by that point some geek's found a cure or a vaccine maybe? Well if I'm gonna do this right then the first thing you gotta know about me is that my name's Barbara Anne Young and I'm twenty-eight years old, I'm from a small mountain town up in the northern part of Georgia but I left it to go to college to become a writer. I have dark brown eyes my hair is thick and the color of a starless night, sorry the writer in me kinda came out, my hair's thick and black, it falls to the middle of my back and I often times I like to keep it in two braids tying the two together at the ends. Another thing you gotta know about me is that I've got a younger brother his name is Jonathon James Young and he's seventeen years old, not even out of high school and he's gotta deal with his friends and family tryin' to eat him…I'm tryin' my damnedest to keep him alive._

_See we were saved by my friend Lani Lawson. She's yer average back woods country girl, built like a damn ox with all the work she's gotta do on her farm but the thing is the muscle she's got makes her look big and she isn't it's all pure muscle. She's got golden hair that in the right like actually sparkles I often found myself on her pourch watching her work and writing in my journal exactly what I see or modeling a character or two after her. Ah, I'm goin' ever which way with this damn thing sorry. Anyway it started with her asking me too come home, to Georgia, for a bit just to catch up with her and two of our other friends that I hadn't seen since high school, Elaina Wattson and Andrew Knox. At hearing that my brother was also goin' to be there I book the first set of tickets I could back home and in matter of hours I was tackled by my baby brother who I hadn't seen in a least a year. He's grown so much surpassing my 5'4" by a good foot or so and his sandy blond hair was starting to look shagy and falling in his face, and his amber eyes were smiling with warmth and excitement he was really starting to look like our father. The first week went by and we were havin' the best time, especially Johnny, mostly cause I let him get shit faced with us when the work was done for the day. But then the news reports started, people were eatin' each other and the dead weren't stayin' dead, I have to say now that it was a damned good thing that Elaina, Andrew, and I were gamers and slightly paranoid. Once the reports started we started to fortify the farm rasin' fences and puttin' barbed wire were we could. Right now it seems to be wrokin' we're all pretty well equipped and a lot of us are fairly well trained in huntin', shootin', and well farmin'…_

"Sister?" Barbara's head shot up from her journal at the sound of her brother's soft voice of Johnny when she looked up she noted that in the candle light her brother looks so young, too young for all this shit to be happening to him. His amber eyes look on her with anxious worry Barbara shook her head _sometimes he such a kid_ she thought smiling and patting the bed next to her. They were seventeen and twenty-eight and still they would share the same bed, now more then ever. Once he crawled into the bed and rested his head in her lap his arms circling around her waist and holding her tightly, she started to stroke his hair hoping that it'd calm him down somehow.

"What's wrong, little brother?" she knew the answer before he even opened his mouth,

"I'm worried about Ma and Pa" he mumbled Barbara's smile dropped a little but her hand never stopped she didn't want him to see her fears and doubts she had to stay strong for him.

"You know Daddy's gonna protect her and Gram, 'member Daddy's retired military and Ma, well she's a survivor. We just gotta get to 'em" she said he nodded then a light chuckled filled the room making her raise an eyebrow it felt like it'd been forever since she'd last her anything remotely like a laugh from Johnny. "What?"

"I was just remembering that time that you snuck out and Ma comes runnin' into our room lookin' for you 'cause you were an idiot and dropped right in front of her bedroom window." Barbara couldn't stop the laugh from escaping and continued the story.

"Yeah but, what you didn't know was that she let me think I got away with it by waitin' for me in the livin' room with the lights and T.V. off. When I came back in through the back slidin' door she jumped up screaming at the top of her lung, scarin' the shit outta me." she imitated her mother's voice the best she could, "'Barbara Anne Young where the fuck have you been!' and threw a the damn remote at me," he brother busted up laughing Barbara smacked her brother lightly chuckling herself. "Shut up, you, it really hurt damn thing hit me scare in the middle of my forehead" this only made her brother laugh even harder she playfully shoved her brother away before getting up and stretching she picked up her journal closing it and smiling at her brother who was already half asleep.

"Get some sleep, Johnny, I'm gonna go pick up the watch." She said before leaving the room she blew out the candle and closed the door behind her sighing heavily in the hall. When she turned she ran into someone and gasped. She looked up and seeing Andrew there she glared at him whacking him in the chest,

"God damn, don't go doin' that" she hissed and he laughed smiling that big warm smile of his. Andrew was her school's best programmer, even got hired on as a TA right out of high school, but he wasn't like your normal techy, well the stereo type anyway, he was one of those gym rat type of guys but his mind was the sharpest Barbara had ever come across, it's probably what had attracted her to him in the first place. It also helped that he had the biggest baby blues she'd ever seen and she was a sucker for a man with a nice bottom and pretty blue eyes. He leaned down, him being a good foot taller than Barbara herself _everyone's always taller then me_ she thought with a little bitterness, and kissed her lightly on the forehead,

"How's he doing, fireball?" he asked using the nickname he only used if they were by themselves she gave a tired smile,

"He's worried about our parents, you know the usual" Andrew pulled his friend into a hug, one she returned, and rested his cheek on the top of her head knowing that she more than any of them needed it. She liked to keep thing bottled up,

"I met your parents, they're doin' just fine." He said reassuringly which made Barbara hug him tighter and nodded before letting him go,

"I gotta go, patrol and all" he smiled before kissing her again and letting her head back to what she was doing.


	2. Atlanta, Here We Come!

Chapter two: Atlanta, here we come.

The weather was changing it was starting to get cold, but the group was well equipped for the summer and winter. Hell Barbara thought. She didn't think any of them knew exactly what they were doing they were just trying to survive. It'd been Barbara's turn to keep watch, hell for the last two days she'd been taking the watch mostly because she couldn't sleep. She wouldn't let herself sleep. She'd seen those zombies using each other to climb over the walls they'd built to protect themselves. She'd chosen to sit in a tree she found, being high up helped her watch things better.

"Barb?" she stiffened and looked down, she wasn't surprised to see Elaina there, the girl had always been a bit of a night owl. Elaina was probably one of the most beautiful black women she'd ever met. She was built like a damn brick, but her body itself was trimmed. Even with the apocalypse she found a way to get some sort of workout in. recently. She hadn't been able to get her hair cut; it was getting longer so to keep it from getting crazy she was starting to dread it again. Barbara and Lani had told her she should keep it like that.

"What's up, Laina?" she whispered, she didn't want to wake the others and smiled a little when she saw the woman jump and look up. Barbara had found she often liked scaring or messing with people. Elaina probably thought that Barbara was on the ground.

"What are you doin' up there?" she asked and Barbara scanned the camp with her eyes. With her bow motioned to include the whole camp,

"I can see things better from up here," she looked back down at her friend, "what did you need?" Elaina smiled before leaning against the tree that Barbara was in and sighed.

"I just wanted to talk."

"About?"

"Everything…what if we don't find your parents in the CDC, what if we don't find them at all?" she asked and Barbara stiffened, it seemed that she wasn't the only one who believed that they probably wouldn't find hers and Johnny's parents. She sighed. She could always be honest with Elaina, she'd known that when she'd gone to high school with the girl and then the same college.

"Even if we don't find my parents we can at least hope that we find other survivors." Elaina nodded it was a reasonable thought, hope, whatever you wanted to call it. It was quiet for a little while neither woman minded it much.

"Barbara?" Barbara raised her eyebrow, it was rare when Elaina called her by her full name. Usually every just called her Barb, or Bar, only two people every called her Annie. She didn't answer, mostly 'cause she knew that when Elaina called her by her full name it was better to remain silent.

"I hope we find other people, and for you and Johnny's sake, I hope we never find your parents." So she wasn't the only who had a feeling that their parents were walkers. She let out a shaky sigh,

"Me too, Laina, me too" her words came out barely above a whisper, but somehow she knew that Elaina had heard her. She felt her oldest friend pat her leg and then heard her walk off leaving her to her watch.  
When the morning came Barbara was already out hunting for their breakfast, she needed time to think. She also had to figure out where exactly they were and how far they were from the city. When she'd found the highest point, it'd ended up being a tree, she'd had to shimmy her way up with her bow slung over her shoulder. She'd seen that they weren't very far from the city.

She'd made it back to the camp with little to no problem. She smiled at the group when they saw her coming and held up the bird's she'd shot down after she'd gotten her bearings.  
Everyone smiled and nodded when they heard a rustling from the bushes. Everyone spun on their heels weapons in their hands. Elaina was good with a machete, Lani was amazing with a gun though she was the last resort, Johnny was the knife expert, and Barbara preferred her bow and arrows.  
Andrew, like Barbara, liked to use a bow but only when he was hunting. Which he'd been doing and had decided to head back to camp. When he looked up he flinched away when he saw everyone's weapons trained on him, then he grinned like an idiot-

"Knew you guys couldn't wait to kill me." Everyone relaxed and some let out a chuckle at the lame joke. He stepped further into the camp pulling a deer behind him.

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It hadn't taken them long to skin, cut, and cook up the deer. What they didn't cook they wrapped up in what they had with them.  
Barbara was looking at the map they'd taken from a house they'd come across three days back. She pointed to the city,

"From what I saw we're about here" she said pointing to a spot that wasn't very far from the city, making her brother smile brightly,

"Does that mean we can find some gas, supplies even?" he asked and Barbara nodded not taking her eyes off the map her face set up in a stern frown.

"What's up, Barb?" Andrew asked.

"It's the transmissions they just stopped right?" Everyone nodded when she looked at them, "we've all played zombie games, seen the movies, right?"

"So, what's your point" Barbara loved Lani dearly but sometimes she was really slow on the up take,

"My point is that when a place stops broadcasting things generally that means it's been overrun by the dead." Before Lani could ask another question Barbara continued, "All I'm sayin' is we need ta go in there cautiously. We can't go makin' a lot of noise and we sure as hell can't get ourselves caught anywhere." She said looking at their weapons. They were good for when they could fight them a few at a few time but if they got swarmed they were completely screwed.

"Plus we've got to find some gas…and supplies, we´re running low" she added while the others nodded their head in agreement.

"But what if the CDC isn't over run and everything's fine there, what if mom and dad are there?" her brother asked and she turned looking at him. His amber eyes shining with anxiousness, she'd only seen him like this when he was younger. His blond hair was ragged and his face was dirty, it made him look far older than a seventeen year old kid. She wanted to sigh but she smiled,

"It's better to be safe than sorry, right?" she asked and Johnny nodded giving her a shaky smile,

"Alright then, we go into the city quietly and head for the CDC. If it turns out to be a bust then we find gas, supplies, and we get the hell outta dodge, right?" Elaina asked every one of the nodded and they all started taking apart camp.

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Hope you all like this new chapter! Originally I was going to write out the whole Zombie attack on their farm but I found it was really difficult! lol so right now I'm going to post the after math. maybe one day I'll get it written but its just gonna stay a funny scene in my head that's more like a movie then a novel scene.


	3. Atlanta: Home of the Dead

When they'd gotten to the CDC all five of them couldn't move couldn't speak. They were all expecting to see a building with broken windows. Maybe a few zombies roaming the area, not a hole in the ground with scorch marks spreading out like black arm. Andrew looked around to the others,

"Barb, we've got ta go, remember what we said," he said quietly looking around making sure that they weren't any zombies around. Barbara nodded and turned to her group, she blinked a couple of times trying to get things to stop moving so much. The other's watched her curiously; she smiled at them reassuring them.

"Alright everyone we are going to split up," the surprised looks were evident, "we are not going far apart, so keep yer walkies on and keep 'em low." The others nodded but she wasn't sure they understood, "do you hear me?" they nodded again, "Elaina, Lani, and Johnny, you three look for gas. Andrew and I will go look for supplies." She said going back to their cars and pulling out the duffel bags, Johnny had followed her. When he noticed she wasn't going to talk to him about it he grabbed her wrist. He didn't like that she was only bringing Andrew as her back up.

"_Why can't I go with ya_?" he asked and Barbara looked at him smiling. She brought her hand to his face, cupping his cheek,

"_You only understand sign language; I need Andrew 'cause he can sign back_." She explained using their mother's native language, German. She could see the information processing. He nodded before going over to the other two. When she returned and gave they all nodded at her, and the teams headed in their appointed direction. Johnny, Lani, and Elaina taking the right while Andrew and Barbara taking the left. It didn't take long for Andrew and Barbara to find a pharmacy story, and like they thought, it didn't have much. She and chuckled a little bit when Andrew headed straight for the shelves and started to look at the bottles and boxes, pulling things off that they needed and things he thought they might need in the future.

"I forgot you were goin' ta school ta be a doc," She said shaking her head. Andrew rolled his eyes,

"Surgeon" he corrected, she made a face and started to poorly imitate him making him smile. Everyone thought that Lani was pretty spacey and a little odd, but it was Barbara who took that title. The woman was the most forgetful person Andrew had ever met. She turned away drawing an arrow so that she could continue watching out for zombies, she didn't need them surprising her and Andrew. She wouldn't lose anyone, not to this world. When she felt a tap on her shoulder she relaxed, but didn't put the arrow back she kept her bow to her side and turned to follow the man out of the store. Both making sure it was safe before they entered the street and moving on to a weapons/hunting shop.

Andrew would be the one to watch her back while she pulled what ammo, if there was any, and some arrows for their bows, and if the gods were good maybe a few more guns. When they finally found one it barely had anything they needed. One of the things that had surprised her was founding some bolts for a crossbow, but no crossbow. She inspected the bolts for a second before turning to Andrew, giving a sharp whistle to get his attention and quickly signing,

"Whatcha ya think, Take 'em?" Andrew looked to the bolts then to Barbara and shrugged,

"Might as well," he signed just as fast and turned back to the door. She nodded and slipped them into her bag before moving around the store again. She'd spotted a six shooter and inspected it then shook her head, _what the hell do I know about guns? I'm a freakin' bow hunter_. She smiled at herself before shaking her head and putting the gun in her bag, maybe one of the others would like to use it. She continued to scan the shop when she stopped and let out a moan loud enough to draw Andrew's attention, he had to hold in a snort of laughter. Their on one of the racks was a Hyot carbon element RKT bow, its sleek look was just calling to her. She put her Matthews compound bow down on a nearby case and picked up the bow.

"I found Excalibur!" she hissed as she gently ran her fingers over the smooth surface her face glowing with delight; like a child on Christmas morning. Andrew shook his head grinning. It was good to see that she was making jokes again; before all this shit had happened, she'd been the one in their group that was always cracking jokes, and maybe a little weird in the head. He turned to look at her smiling, she was grinning while aiming the bow and drawing its string.

"You know, if you like it so much, take it. We can keep yer old one as spare." he whispered, she started to laugh lowly. And nodded before slinging her old over her shoulder, like you'd see an archer in the movies, and picked up the new one. once they'd gather the rest of the ammo supply they left the store they were running back to the CDC when Barbara felt someone grab her collar and yank her back slamming her against the wall in an instant she had her hunting knife out and at the man's throat.

It was Andrew which made her glare at him, why the hell had he just grabbed her like that, he couldn't gotten himself hurt.

"What the hell do you think yer doin'?" he sighed after he let her go, "Can you hear them?" he asked and she raised an eyebrow. She had no idea what he was talking about then she heard them, the moans, shuffling, and the sound of ripping flesh. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard, how had she not heard them? when she opened her eyes Andrew was looking at her, really looking at her. "How long has it been since you last slept?" he asked noticing that she looked exhausted. Barbara looked away ignoring him and pulling out the map and trying to find another route to the CDC.

Andrew galred his anger beginning to bubble, he grabbed her shoulder and spun her around mouthing his next words,

"You best answer me, Barbara Anne Young, or so help-" Barbara shoved him away not, not hard, and returned his glare.

"What does it matter? I'm fine, alright?" she signed furiously, before taking a breath it was never good to be around zombies when you were angry. "Look at this," she mouthed pointing to the map, "if we double back an' take this sheet,. it's a straight shot ta the CDC an' then we can get the hell outta here." He crossed his arms fixing her with a stern look and when she shoved the moved at him he looked at it. it seemed like a sound route he just hoped they didn't run into anymore zombies.

"Fine, but we're gonna talk about this" he signed and she nodded in confirmation. Both of them readied their bows and turned around going back the way they came

Johnny was looking at his sister in the rearview mirror, she'd her nose in that journal of hers ever since Andrew and she had gotten back from getting the supplies, and it made him wonder what exactly had happened between them. the tension was so thick you could cut through it with a knife if you wanted too, _had Andrew just noticed that she's not been sleeping?_ Wonder. Everyone else had, _but I guess it would be a surprise, it's more noticeable now_. She wasn't quiet as focused as she use to be and she looked like hell. Barbara looked up when she felt her brother's eyes on her, her brown eyes showing just how tired she was, she smiled at him and pointed to the road.

"_Watch the road, Little brother, not me_." She said before closing her journal and looking out the window. Johnny did as he was told, but still he couldn't help the worry that was nagging him. He jumped a little when he heard the radio they use go off,

"Hey guys," it was Elaina's voice. Currently she and Lani were leading their caravan, "Lani's sayin' that there's a farm not too far from here." Barbara had turned to look at her brother when she'd heard the radio, she held her hand out for the walkie-talkie. Johnny handed it over she pressed the button.

"Do ya know the owner or somethin'?" she asked,

"She says that she does, the man who owns it, Herschel Greene, was her vet." Barbara raised an eyebrow at the walkie-talkie, Andrew must have been thinking the same thing because he beat her to the punch.

"Aint he a bit outta the way?" Barbara remained silent waiting for Elaina to answer,

"Lani says that he was the only one her family trusted with their animals. That he'd usually come to their farm. She thinks he might hold us up for a night or two, give us time to restock before we move on again." Barbara pinched the bridge of her nose, the lack of sleep was finally getting to her, and because of it she had a permanent headache. They were all tired of their cars, and she knew that, but could she risk possibly finding a farm completely over run by zombies again?

"How much gas yall got left?" she asked. She had to be sure that it was absolutely nessacary that they stop.

"My trucks got two cans left," Andrew answered.

"Same with Lani's Jeep," she looked at her brother through the rearview. He looked back at her at her.

"_We're running low as well_" She sighed before nodding to herself,

"Alright, take us there, were only stayin' there 'til we're resupplied, agreed?" she asked they were a group after all; she couldn't make all the decisions.

"Yeah" came Lani and Elaina's response,

"Fine by me" Andrew answered, Johnny nodded before smiling at her through the rearview, she nodded,

"Agreed. We'll see if we can trade something to help things along should he not want us there, but be prepared for the worst." She warned and let go of the button. She pinched the bridge of her nose again and closed her eyes.

"_Get some sleep, Sister, I'll get us there_" he said and she nodded, letting her head roll back. Her mind began to wonder to a better time. She'd been seventeen; Johnny was about six, she'd skipped school again to hang out with Daryl Dixon, her sort of boyfriend at the time, and a bunch of the other kids from her class who'd taken a personal health day. They all had met up at the local watering hole; she was on one of the towels she'd brought for her and Daryl, reading her favorite book while Daryl was off in the water or on the swing, when she looked up it was like Daryl had been waiting for her to look at him so he could somehow show off. She always smile and shake her head and go back to her book which made him grin.

She hadn't been paying attention when he'd come out of the water over to her and yelped when she felt cold water dripping on her back. She rolled onto her back and saw Daryl was standing over her dripping wet, he was grinning like an idiot. Then again to her he always looked like an idiot, but he was her idiot so it didn't matter. He dropped to his knees and put both hands on each side of her,

"Daryl, don', yer gonna get my book wet" she said laughing, stretching her arms out so his wetness wouldn't get to her book. He chuckled a little getting closer to her like he was going to kiss her but stopped,

"Watcha readin', Annie?" he asked using the nickname that her Father used. Once she'd asked him why he called liked to call her by that name only and he always said 'fits ya better, is all'. She raised an eye brow her smile turning into a grin; these were the moments that she enjoyed the most.

"Like you care," he reposition himself so that he was laying on her stomach and smirked at her.

"I do, see this is my 'I care' face.'" He said, she rolled her eyes before thinking about it for a minute before putting her finger in her book and showing him, "Lords of Atlantis'." He read out load then raised an eyebrow, "You readin' that smut again, Darlin'?" he asked. Barbara rolled her eyes and pushed at him, she hated it when he called her romance novels smut. He laughed and grabbed her hands pinning them to the side of her head,

"Get off me, ya hick." She said, the others around them were laughing, it was their way. They never really addressed each other by name for Barbara it was an insult with affection behind it and for Daryl it was usually a stupid pet name. Daryl leaned down close to her,

"Not 'til ya admit its smut."

"Barb!" Barbara awoke with a sharp intake of breath, her hair had fallen out of its braid and was acting as a shield for her face, "_you okay, Sister_?" Johnny asked Barbara nodded yawning and stretching the best she could. She looked around with a raised eyebrow; the surrounding area was completely unfamiliar to her.

"_Where are we_?" she asked noting that it was dusk, had she really been sleeping that long? "_What time is it_?" she asked Johnny smiled. He hadn't seen her so refreshed looking since before everything started.

"_We're at the farm, and it's about 5:30. We let you sleep once we got here. You were out faster than a light bulb, and you looked like you needed the rest_." Barbara nodded and yawned again, she was still fairly tired and things were still spinning a little but not as bad as before. She didn't see anyone just a line of cars in front of a white two story home that was beautifully designed and painted white. She got out of the car and yawned once more, _damn I must have been more tired than I thought_, "What were ya dreamin' about?" Johnny asked making her look at him with confusing then when the question registered she shrugged, she wouldn't tell him, it wasn't his business, but she smiled.

"All I 'member is it bein' a nice dream." Johnny nodded and led her toward the house,

"They cooked dinner, we hunted it, of course, didn't want to be muchin' off them. There are more people here then we though, some of 'em even helped us hunt dinner." he said his smile growing witch made her start to wonder what's got him in such a good mood. She still wasn't fully awake so she just pushed it to the back of her mind, she'd worry about it later. While they were walking up the stairs to the porch she missed one of the middle steps and slammed her knee hard against the top step.

"Mother…son of a…flipping…turkey, I will kill you!" she hissed holding her knee. She was trying really hard not to curse. The laughter heard from the house made Barbara glare at the porch and she raised her voice. "Shut up, Lani"

"Hey, how do you know it's me?" she yelled back,

"Because I can tell the difference between yers and Laina's voice, and unless Andrew's balls suddenly shrunk an' turned inta ovaries, it was you." she snapped, she waited for a response, when there wasn't one she smiled and shook her head. Johnny had helped her up and was grinning now, it made her raise an eyebrow, "_What are you smiling about_?" she asked.

"_I have got a surprise for you_," he said. She grew a little nervous she didn't like her brother's kind of surprises. When she was escorted, more like dragged, into the kitchen she wasn't a happy camper; her hair was getting in her face, her brother was dragging her, and her knee still hurt like a bitch.

"Johnny. ya better stop pushin' me, or so help me, I'll slap worse than mama ever did." there was a couple of chuckles but one caught her attention, one she was very familiar with. She looked to her left, there leaning against the counter was Daryl Dixon peeling an apple and watching her with that same stupid little smirk he always used to show her. _What the hell, he gets older and gets even more handsome? _She thought stunned.

"Still readin' them smut books, Annie?" he asked his voice deeper than she remembered; his eyes more intense, his muscles _dear god his muscles_ she thought refraining from moaning.

"Daryl?" she asked before fainting, the exhaustion taking its toll on her.

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So what did you all think? I hope you all enjoyed it I tried my hardest to get all of the grammar mistakes. Also feedback would be awesome! lol


	4. I'm Glad You're Alive

Chapter Four: I'm glad you're alive

She'd been sitting there for almost three hours, wiping at her face. She didn't want Daryl to see that'd she'd been crying, or that she was bruised but there wasn't anything she could do. Her and her father had gotten into another fight; this one had been bad. They'd actually gotten physical with each other. The fight had been heated, hateful things had been said on both accounts, and before she knew it her dad had reach for her. She'd backed up trying to get out of his reach and ended up tripping over one of their rugs. She had fallen face first into the side of their coffee table. She wiped at her face again, she wasn't crying because of her face, though that hurt too, she was crying because of the words that were spoken.

'You pregnant with his baby, aren't you, little slut?' he'd screamed and she'd only been really hung over, that's when her mother had jumped in trying to calm her father down but he just wouldn't listen.  
She stiffened when she heard her brother, who'd come into her room to comfort her, make a noise and rolled over out of the blanket. She smiled a little and got off the window seat. Moving closer to the bed she reached down grabbed the blanket and pulled it over her brother.

"_Love you, sister_." he mumbled in German, she chuckled lightly before kissing him lightly on the forehead,

"_Love you too, little brother_," she whispered making him smile sleepily.

"There's somethin' really…sweet 'bout the way you two say 'I love you' ta each other." She smiled and turned around; Daryl was getting good at understanding German.

"Yer gettin' good at understa-" she stopped when she saw him, he had a look that was a cross between stunned and rage painted across his face. She knew exactly where his mind was, "it aint whatch yer thinkin,'" she mumbled looking away from him, he moved slowly toward her, grabbing her wrist and pulling her gently into the moonlight. He inhaled sharply through his nose; he'd seen this kind of stuff a million times with his own dad, even his own brother. Her eye was dark and a little swollen and she had a pretty nasty cut on her cheek.

"Did yer dad do this?" he asked quietly, his fingers gently gliding over her black eye and split cheek. She winced but shook her head; he looked her in the eyes this time taking her breath away. She really did like Daryl, a lot actually, but with the way her family was, mainly her dad almost shooting him, she wasn't sure if he'd want to come into the family. "Don' be tryin' to protect him if he's hittin' ya" he said and she gave a sad smile,

"He didn' hit me, it was an accident, I turned to get away from him when he grabbed for me. I tripped on the rug and said hello to the coffee table with my face." They didn't say anything for a long time; he pulled her back to the window seat, positioning her so that he could see her face better. He made to stand and she grabbed his hand. "You can't go out there, what if my Daddy catches you…he might shoot you," she whispered her grip on his hand tightening a little. Daryl smiled at her making her blink.

"Wouldn' be the first time," he said before leaving and she huffed crossing her arms,

"That isn' the point, stupid hick," she mumbled but smiled when she heard him chuckle a little.

Barbara's eyes opened and she stared at a white ceiling that had shadows and light dancing, _well I think it's safe ta assume it's late afternoon_she thought sitting up. She winced a little, she was sore all over the place. She'd only ever felt like this when she was trying to meet a dead line and hadn't slept in three days or more. She covered her face with both her hands as her dream came rushing back to her, why was she thinking of the past so much lately? Was it because, just maybe, she sort of regretted leaving her home to go to college? She rubbed her face a little harder than normal.

"Barb, I'm glad to see you're awake," she lowered her hands enough to see Andrew at the foot of the bed she'd been in. _He doesn't look happy_she thought before covering her face again. "I said we were going to talk and we are," he said pulling her hands away from her face. "Why were you forcing yourself to stay awake?" Barbara watched him for long while, she wasn't sure how she could answer that. She sighed before pulling her legs to her chest and resting her chin on her knees.

"_I didn't want to see the farm_," she answered in German, just in case someone heard her, she could hear others moving around and the muffled clinking of dishes. Andrew watched her for a minute. She messed with the blanket and then looked to the door, he wasn't going to let her escape, not when she'd put everyone else before her own health.

"What do you mean?" He'd heard from Johnny that the farm had affected Barbara more then she let on. Barbara sighed, how was she to explain that she knew that if she closed her eyes, she'd see everything all over again? She took a deep breath and decided to go the direct route.

"_If I hadn't gotten Elaina to leave me and get you guys, the farm could have turned bad, worse than what it did. They were using rocks and themselves to break the wall in. There were spots that were already weak, I'd found them but didn't think they would be a problem that night. It was something we could have handled in the morning, you know?_" she asked and he nodded. She stopped trying to put her words together again. "_The ones that I killed were used, like a bridge, or ladder, or something. And the others would climb over and flop over the edge of the wall, Andrew. It was like a stupid horror filming playing before my eyes_," she said quietly Andrew had moved from the end of the bed to right next to Barbara and pulled her into a hug. He watched her face, the fear in her eyes was clear.

"_You don't need to scared, Barb, you've got your brother, you've got us_," he said, his German broken but it was enough for Barbara to understand what he meant. She smiled before whacking him on the chest lightly,

"Yer German's still crap." Andrew laughed before rubbing her back and holding her at arms length.

"Maybe so, but, we've got dinner ready and everyone's wondering if yer awake," Barbara smiled a little before nodding. She moved to get out of the bed with Andrews help.

Rick had been watching the new people, it was odd to see these people do everything they could to help Hershel, and it was weirder to see Hershel excepting it when he'd deny Rick's own offer of help. Maybe it was because Hershel knew one of the girls in the group and sort of knew the others. Whatever the reason, Rick had to not take it personally.

"How did y´all get off yer farm?" Rick's eye glided to Shane, _Way to be subtle, brother_ he thought pushing back the want to call out Shane's name. Before they'd come in for dinner they'd all discussed as that they would try and get as much information out of this new group, to try and gage if they were a danger to them. Elaina's lips split in a small sad smile.

"Barbara, she gave us enough time to get out off the farm, took out a few of those things and then got away herself," she answered. Rick looked back to Shane and he could see the wheels turning, he could also see Andrea watching them like they were a danger.

"Was she bit?" Andrea asked choosing the blunt path which made Johnny, Lani, and Elaina stop gathering their food. Johnny was the first to speak, his announce was evident as his words were both harsh and in German.

"Wie kannst du es wagen…, es gibt kaum einen besseren Jäger als meine Schwester! Sie würde niemals gebissen werden, niemals!" he said glaring at Andrea and Andrea returned it. She had never been one to back down from anything, but both stopped when the door leading to Johnny's sister opened.

"Jonathan, was hab' ich dir gesagt?" Everyone turned to look at the girl. When her brother didn't answer her she smiled warmly, "Taten sagen mehr als Worte." She laughed when Johnny got up and hugged her tightly before returning the hug.

"Are you okay, sister?" he asked looking her over making Barbara smile and pat him on the cheek,

"Just fine, little brother." When her eyes caught sight of the food, she grinned "Starving, and a little sore but that aint nothin' new to me." Lani and Elaina had turned in their seats and were grinning,

"Do ya 'member that one time, when ya had three sleeves of mountain dew and didn't sleep for almost an entire week?" Lani asked grinning and Elaina started to laugh, even Barbara was smiling. She shook her head and moved to grab a plate and started piling food on it. Her eyes moving to Daryl, he was watching her too and they shared a silent moment she just smiled and nodded at him before taking her food to the porch.

"Where are you goin'?" asked Shane watching her, she knew he didn't trust her, or her group, but the feeling was mutual,

"I'm gonna eat on the porch." She said pointing to the door with her plate, everyone was staring at her now, it made her uncomfortable. She'd made her group a democracy because she just couldn't handle people looking at or to her. She looked at her plate then took a breath, and moved on. She didn't need to tell them anything, not yet, her group knew why she ate by herself and they let her.

She was sitting on one of the rocking chairs smiling as she listened to the bugs. Bugs were good, they let her know that zombies were nowhere near her and her family. The door opened she looked to her left and smiled when she saw Daryl, he moved so that he was to the left of the door, closer to her, and returned the smile. It wasn't big or anything just a small upturn of the right side of his lips.

"How ya been, Annie?" he asked she shrugged and chuckled a little,

"Kinda a dumb question now, aint it?" she asked her tone both serious and joking. Daryl laughed through his nose and looked out at the lawn.

"I meant before." Barbara turned away from him to look back out at the lawn and grinned before shrugging.

"I was doin' good," she looked to her feet then turned to Daryl. She wasn't surprised when she made eye contact with him. Her lips pulled back into a kind smile and her eyes spoke the truth, "missed ya…a little." Daryl nodded he'd missed her too; sometimes more than he'd like to admit. "What about you, Daryl, how were ya before everything went to completely shit?" Daryl bit his cuticle.

"Was livin' with Merle, doin' what I do best," was his answer, _short and sweet_ she thought turning away from him again. He'd always been quiet, but somehow this felt different.

"How is he? Didn' see him at the table." She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and saw his face go from semi warm to complete stone. _Damn it_ she thought, "Sorry," she said. Daryl glared at her what the hell made her think that Merle was dead?

"He aint dead, the only thing that can kill Merle, is-" Barbara rolled her eyes interrupting her ex-lover,

"Merle himself, I know that, ya dumb hick," she mumbled the insult. She didn't think Merle was dead, just that he wasn't with Daryl. Daryl looked at the yard like she was, he didn't want her to see surprise on his face, _can't believe she even remembers that_ he thought. "Merle is the only man; I ever met, that was tougher to kill than a damn cockroach," she continued, Daryl snorted his laughter making Barbara smile a little. At least she could still make the man laugh. They sat in silence after that, it struck Barbara as odd. Before Barbara had left they'd always been able to talk about everything, even about stupid things, but now, it just seemed like they were strangers. That made her sad, she looked to the floor and smiled a little _it's too be expected, we haven't seen each other in eleven years_ she thought, she heard Daryl start to leave the porch, heading toward the camp he and his group had set up.

"Daryl," she called out making him stop and turn to look at her; "I am really glad that you made it." _I've been worried about you _she added silently. She'd never openly admitted this to people, especially not to Daryl himself, but Daryl was someone that she'd never forgotten. Daryl looked at her seeing in her eyes that she actually meant what she'd said. He nodded and smiled that smile he knew she liked, but pretended to hate.

"Me too, fer you, I mean" Barbara smiled and nodded before watching him go to his tent.

* * *

THIS DOES NOT BELONG TO ME! Only Barbguys does.

I don't know if I put in a disclaimer lol so now there is one. The characters belong to the creator and wrirtes of both the Walking Dead comic and the show.

Sooooooo, what did you all think? I was originally going to have it that when Barbra is talking with Johnny it'll be in italics to represent that they have switched to their native language, German, but now that I've had so many people tell em that the online translators are rubbish, I think I'm going to just do Italics from now on and just say when it is they are speaking German.


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